Monday, 6 October 2014

This weekend we've been away at animangaPOP in Bristol, selling our kawaii shop's handmade wares! I realize we haven't really posted very much on here regarding our shop, but we're super excited to be running it and we love doing it! We sell kawaii handmade jewelry designed to be worn with J-Fashion, things we would be happy to wear ourselves! Here's a quick little link!

I think one of the best things we found about selling at a convention was how lovely and supportive everyone else was! All of the other stall holders were so friendly and lovely, and we definitely overspent our budget! Oops. . .

We picked up some little Madoka blind boxes; one for Nat and one for a friend!

The above are from the lovely Jessabel! A lot of the items on the left came from a lucky pack, and everything was super cute! The Lagoona print is definitely going up in our craft room! The stickers on the right (we are both so awfully tempted by every sticker set we see. . .) will probably end up on packages and penpal letters!

All from the sweet Minty Kitty! Absolutely everything on her stall was so adorable, it was difficult to choose what to buy! I definitely want to get more prints and more keychains and more everything; I think we both went back to this stall about five different times!

To be honest, I've never really bought prints at conventions before - but when you're on the other side of the table, you suddenly start to get a lot more of an idea of exactly how much goes into manufacturing every single thing that's being sold, and it definitely gives you an appreciation of other handmade crafters and artists! I know that next time I go to a con, I'll definitely stop to look and purchase; and if you've never really thought about it, you should too!

We also bought a couple of goodies from 8th Sin Creations; the rabbit brooch is a gift for a friend, but the rosette is for us! The girl running the stall also gave Haz 2 free pairs of earrings, which was super sweet!

I also bought a little Rilakkuma stapler as a gift! Cute stationery is the best kind, after all!

All in all, we had a fabulous time at AnimangaPOP, bought some adorable crafts and met some lovely people! We definitely want to attend another Keep It Secret event in the near future, and it's given us a bit of a push to carry on exhibiting and selling at cons!

Friday, 15 August 2014

One of our friends got married last weekend, and we were invited and asked if we would wear lolita! Generally, whether or not lolita is wedding-appropriate can come up as a point of contention - people worry it will take attention away from the bride, or come off as overdressed, or any other number of (perfectly valid!) worries! However, in this case, seeing as we'd been asked specifically, we thought we would risk it!

Haz!

Haz wore Cinderella Bunny out for the first time! She felt a little bit more conspicuous than Nat, but it is such a cute dress and feels so cute and princessy to wear that it was definitely worth it!

Haz feels a little bit self-conscious of her arms, so this vintage blouse with pin tucks and a ruffle is perfect for covering up and still being cute! She wore a vintage pearl necklace to match the pearl detailing on the JSK! On the picture above you can also see a cute little vintage ballet shoe brooch - we thought it was appropriate for a ball-themed dress!

Nat!

I got these shoes and skirt specifically for a wedding and was intending to wear them with my fancy new Bodyline blouse, but was a little worried about wearing too much white, so chose a duskier rose vintage blouse! It has some really cute collar embroidery that I love. I felt a lot more casual than Haz, but also might have went a little bit overboard on the accessory department!

Our place settings at the wedding were really cute! Also, the brownie served with dessert was absolutely the most delicious food!

We had a lot of fun and are so grateful that we were invited to such a special occasion in our friend's life! What would you say is the most special event you've worn lolita for? Haz and I have been talking a lot about having a lolita wedding or a lolita inspired wedding - how do you guys feel about something like that?

Monday, 4 August 2014

Another month, another Instagram roundup! To be perfectly honest, with the end of college and the sudden onset of the summer holidays and with lots of events coming up, we haven't really had time to go on any adventures! However, being cooped up has lead to us having to find creative ways to spend our energy! And spending a whole ton of money . . . oops! (｡◕‿◕｡) (A direct quote from Haz: "I can't wait to get back to college so I won't be addicted to eBay anymore!")

First: a little eBay purchase package! We got some glue and jump rings for our business, and then some general cute stuff for our bags! The pens turned out to be very pretty to write with, but ran out almost immediately, which was super sad! Our lovely friend Billie also came over for a day, which was fab!

We attempted to play Disney Trivial Pursuit with Billie, but it did not go to plan! Also, whilst we were gone, Haz turned twenty! I guess we can't call ourselves "teenage lolitas" anymore! :c

We went out to celebrate Billie and Haz's birthday because they only had a day between! We got ice cream sundaes from Baskin Robbins (Nat's had sprinkles and tiny pastel sugar stars in!), shopped around at a few charity shops and altogether had a lovely time! Nat even found these cute Cardcaptor Sakura cards in one of the charity shops for £1.25, which was a super good deal!

Some portrait shots from that day! Nat wearing a cute seifuku outfit and Cute Can Kill accessories, staringly lovingly at the manga and cards we bought . . . And Haz looking super cute in a flower crown and floral dress, as always!

Billie and Nat did an art trade and we got this cute little picture of us as lolitas! We've also started buying these Barbie kinder eggs on our late night walks, although we're getting a lot of doubles . . . (๏ㅂ๏)

Another little eBay purchase package! Cat tights and a Sailor Moon necklace, which we can't wait to put together outfits with! We also discovered the "joys" of loom bands, and now we can't stop - Haz likes the fishtail ones best!

A sneak peek at some of the goodies that are hopefully going to be popping up in our online shop very soon! We also treated ourselves to a little pamper session before a local lolita meet, which included Nat trying out Nat's first ever face mask (Nat had a berry one and Haz had a chocolate one; Haz's smelt delicious!). We also picked up these "Dolly's Mixtures" shower gels, which smell super divine and were definitely worth the £1!

A little selfie from the meet! We were helping out at a local festival on a stall making poppies; thus explaining our button-and-tissue-paper crowns!

That's all for now; we're hoping we'll have some stuff to blog about soon! We're attending a friend's wedding next week and hoping to take some little day trips out before college starts again, so stay tuned for updates with regards to those! What have you been up to recently?

Saturday, 19 July 2014

About a week ago, Cute Can Kill's shop updated and the usual mad rush ensued! If you're not familiar with Cute Can Kill, it's a super cute handmade jewelry shop hosted on storenvy that sells sweet glittery resin creations! They're very famous in J-Fashion communities for being really well-made and looking adorable with outfits! One of their most popular products are the "Dreamy Crystal Pegasus" necklaces, unicorn pegasus necklaces in dreamy pastel colours filled with holographic scraps and glitter! They don't update very often, and when they do it's a rush to try and get everything you want; I didn't manage to get exactly what I wanted, but I'm very happy with what I did! If you want to get exactly what you want, the best thing to do is probably to keep an eye on their Facebook page and jump when you see an update!

I made my orders within half an hour of the stock update, and I ordered 2 items: Magical Girls Star Lollipop 05, and Fairy Glitter Star Lavender - so a necklace and a ring!

The necklace was $18.50, and the star was $6.50. We've heard a lot of people say that Cute Can Kill is on the pricier side for handmade jewelry, but both of us have definitely seen worse quality resin pieces on etsy for double the price! We made them as two separate orders, as we decided to throw in the ring after we were sure we'd gotten the lollipop! Within three days, the shipping for the ring was refunded as Cute Can Kill combine shipping on their orders!

We don't know when Cute Can Kill sent out the packages, but we received them on the 19th - so exactly a week after the order was placed! Considering how many orders must have been placed (I think it was a stock update of about 200 pieces, very few of which remain!), we were both super impressed with how quickly the items got here!

The items were packaged really well, in a securely taped up padded envelope, with (as you can see) lots of bubble wrap. We especially liked the cute little gift box for the ring.

As well as the actual items, we got a super sweet postcard featuring the owner's artwork! It's definitely going to go up in our room somewhere, it fits our aesthetic perfectly. The necklace came with a little note attached to the back; it even had a ribbon glued on top of the ribbon on the artwork! The cute little personal touches made it feel a lot like opening a present, which both of us love! I think nice packaging really adds the nicest touch to buying from a handmade seller.

We couldn't get a picture of how sparkly and nice the glitter in this ring is, but rest assured that it's adorable and is really going to add a cute touch to any otherwise boring outfits!

The star lollipop is really sparkly and really well made; definitely worth the money we paid for it! It also came on some more adorable artwork as the backing; we both especially liked the pink plastic chain! The resin was very smooth and the eyepin was in really securely. The little details really make it seem like an actual magical girl wand!

All in all, we are both super impressed by Cute Can Kill, quality wise and everything-else wise! Quick and safe delivery, reasonably priced, and extra cute to boot! I would definitely recommend Cute Can Kill as somewhere to get cute accessories to add an extra touch to your outfit - that is, if you can get there in time!

Friday, 18 July 2014

This time, Nat ordered a whole load of what we both decided were "essentials" in building up our lolita wardrobe! These essentials included: 2 pairs of wristcuffs, a skirt, a pair of shoes and a new blouse! Unfortunately, we placed the order on a Tuesday, which meant we had to wait a whole week for the items to be shipped out again! However, when they were shipped they arrived in exactly 2 weeks and a day, which seemed pretty quick to us! We've made orders with Bodyline before that have taken four weeks to arrive, and when they've got here have had customs charges! :c

Another good change I've noticed is that Bodyline have started marking packages as gifts and marking them down again! This is especially useful for us as UK lolitas, as anything above £15 marked as any kind of merchandise and any gift over £35 gets hit with a customs fee that is at least £10. This order came to £62 altogether, but we had it marked down by half and it arrived with absolutely no charges! Yay! Especially nice as these essentials were bought with birthday money!

So, without further ado: The first item we ordered were shoes267 in owh!

I originally wanted these in the enamelled version, but they were sold out in my size! :c I needed a pair of white shoes that seemed a little more hard-wearing than my BTSSB heart buckle shoes, because as much as I love them they're not really that well made!

I was super happy with these! They're super cute and I love having the security of a little bit of a heel! The cut outs seem very clean and the little scalloping details are very cute. One thing I'm not really that happy with are the bows just being attached via elastic that stretches across your foot, because I have pretty wide feet and I'm worried about snapping it :c. Other than that, though, I really like these! I ordered a size 25.5 and they fit pretty darn well.

Next up: Blouse L364 in owh! I won't bother going into too much detail, as I think everybody and their mother owns this blouse at this point!

One thing I will say, though: for once, Bodyline's measurements on this are pretty 100%! I have the very largest recommended bust for this in 2L, and fitting it on is a bit of a squeeze - I definitely would not recommend buying it assuming there's any stretch, because there really really isn't.

I love love the cute tiny details on this - the pearls on the collar, the heart buttons, the teeny tiny bows on the sleeves. All are super adorable. I'm going to try and get this in as many colours as possible because it's so cute and so versatile!

Skirt L220!

I picked this skirt up because it was both cute and cheap, and I planned a cute coord in my head with it for a friend's summer wedding! It's very cute in real life, very casual - I think it would be super cute in the brown colourway, but I got it in pink!

The waist ties match the little polka dot bow; which to be honest was a bit of a relief as the bow did seem a bit random!

The lace on the waist ties and the bottom isn't really of the best quality, but at least it's soft! It would also be pretty easy to remove, so I think I might do that at some point.

A little surprise I wasn't expecting; detachable waist ties! This is the first Bodyline skirt I've owned with them, and I'm now absolutely terrified of losing them. The little heart buttons on them match the blouse I got!

Finally, to complete my little essentials collection, I got acc1078 (wristcuffs) in both owh-owh and pik-pik!

The stock picture makes them look very cute, if a little bit stiff and oversized! Both of these problems were indeed problems that the wristcuffs have, but they're cute and quite comfortable as well as being relatively cheap, so we're not too fussed! The pink is a little more like the dpik of the tea party shoes, or the pik of Cinderella Bunny, than it is of Bodyline's more pastel items, so be aware of that!

So, that brings another Bodyline review to a close! Both of us like Bodyline; they sell good products for lolitas on a budget, and they are very very good for building up your wardrobe. I had pretty much no problems with this order! All of the quality issues I was expecting, and none of them detract from my enjoyment, so I'm really very happy! We're both very exciting to get co-ording with our new acquisitions!

About Me

Hi! We're Haz & Nat (although posts are usually written by Nat!). We're two lolitas currently located in the North of England, blogging about cute fashion, cute things and generally interesting things going on in our lives! We hope you enjoy reading our blog.